“Firefighter health and well-being is one of our big initiatives,” Inks said in an earlier statement. “There may be some skeptics about electric vehicles, but who is skeptical about improving anyone’s health and well-being?”

At the RTX unveiling last year, Rosenbauer America CEO Mark Fusco said the vehicle costs nearly twice as much as traditional diesel trucks. In return, Fusco said, fire stations would save thousands of dollars a month in maintenance and fuel costs.

St. Paul’s application for federal funds notes that conventional diesel engines get 1 to 3 miles per gallon. So far, Rosenbauer has built at least five RTX trucks, including two in California and three in Canada.

“This electric fire truck will be the first in the state and will undoubtedly pave the way for other departments,” St. Paul’s application states. “Rising fuel prices, increasing maintenance costs and 5% annual call volume growth all make this a good time to begin the transition to electric fire trucks.”

The truck will be stationed at a new fire station in Dayton’s Bluff on the city’s east side, which is expected to open this year. The city has allocated about $10.5 million for the building, which will replace a 92-year-old fire station with new furniture and equipment that could improve emergency response times across the city. U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, along with U.S. Representative Betty McCollum, requested and secured the $1.67 million.

Firefighters and residents were shocked in January when a woman and her six children were hospitalized after a house fire in St. Paul. Four children died from their injuries, making it one of the worst fires in the capital’s history.